Sunday, November 25, 2012

Hang... and be damned!

I was vastly amused when a male friend sent me this....that 'he' and not a 'she' sent it, displays confidence and a great sense of humour....

This appeared in Sunday Times today.....

Hang…. and be
damned

Qasab’s died a mangy dog’s death.Yes,it was
pathetic.But his short life was even worse.Here was a young man who’d never
lived. No wonder it hardly mattered to him when he spent his last few hours
singing a Bollywood song, nibbling on a tomato. This image is so apt for a man
whose 25 years on earth had no value to anybody. Disowned by his country,
shunned by his village and forgotten by his family, Qasab’s existence was worth
absolutely nothing. Whether he rotted in a jail in Mumbai or faced the gallows
in Pune, Qasab lived and died a zero. In a way, one almost feels sorry for him.
Ever since the dramatic announcement of his secret hanging was made public,
there have been the expected reactions complete with the standard scenes of
people expressing relief, jubilation and gratitude. That over used and rather
annoying word – closure – has been repeated ad nauseum. But the one thing most
of us have overlooked in our haste to congratulate Pranab Mukherjee, Sushil
Kumar Shinde and R.R. Patil, is the wisdom of the decision. Why Qasab and not
Afzal Guru first, is a very valid question to ask. Perhaps the real answer is
far from palatable. Perhaps, we shall never know it. It’s also worth recalling
that Qasab was the only witness who could have been summoned to testify in the
David Headley case. But these are all nothing more than wild conspiracy
theories. And we love them! Since everybody today has become a self styled
authority on conspiracy theories in any case, why not table the current
favourites? It is commonly conceded that in himself, Qasab was a nobody. He was
just the ‘Butka’ who was programmed to go across the border and kill as many
innocents as he could. He came to India to die, as he confessed. And we obliged
him and his handlers by hanging him, in what can be described as unseemly
haste. A haste that apparently took our own Prime Minister by surprise! Or was
that just Sushil Kumar Shinde jumping the gun and making a monumental gaffe? As
a former cop, Shinde says he knows how these games are played . Sure. But if
around 80 people were involved in this key operation, howcome Manmohan
Singh was kept in the dark? Given the
vast amount of paperwork such a complex procedure entails, it’s nothing short
of a miracle there were no leaks this time. It’s been the high season for
leaks, remember? Now that it’s a done deal, and Qasab lies buried in one of the
six unmarked graves in the Yerawada jail compound, how smart a move is that,
given the threats of retaliatory action issued by the LeT and the Pakistani
Taliban? Should we ignore them? Should we also ignore ‘Im the Dim’s’ outburst
demanding the death of our Sarabjit Singh languishing in a Pakistani jail?
Qasab alive was our biggest bargaining chip. Was hanging Qasab in India’s
interests at all? Or will we be paying a huge price for our action in the days
ahead?

Poor Qasab. I never thought I’d be saying
this. But looking at his close ups in various newspapers, one instantly
recognises the eyes and face of a loser. A lost and listless wastrel like
thousands of other disenfranchised, hopelessly impoverished, uneducated and frustrated
young men with nothing at stake and nobody to call their own. Qasab’s is a
classic story. That of a rootless,jobless desperado willing to try anything –
even terrorism. Lured by false promises of financial security for himself and
his family members, Qasab signed over his life to those who continue to be
free…. in all likelihood training other Qasabs even as we in India rejoice
over the death of an entirely dispensable cog in the much larger terror wheel. Haunted
and hunted, Qasab went to his grave dealing with the blood of innocents he’d systematically slaughtered for a handful of
rice and a fistful of money , both of which were never given to his father.
Ironically, he died in vain… used and abused by the masterminds who had
brainwashed him into believing he’d be hailed as a martyr. His sisters may
still be waiting for the promised money for their marriages. But their foolish,
misguided brother will only be remembered as the coward who killed defenseless
people. Not so surprisingly, when he finally found the noose tightening around
his neck, he lost his voice, but his bowels opened up.What an inglorious life!
And what a dirty death. The man, who shot people in cold blood, did potty in
his pajamas in the end. Cheee chee, chee! Bechara Qasab.

12 comments:

If I had read this without knowing that this is your blog, I'd have thought that a 19 or 20 something, really expressive, and eloquent blogger has written this. There is a sense of youthfulness in the write-up. A nice read complimenting my hot coffee after the critical, overly thoughtful articles marred with absolute objectivity in the crest edition of TOI.

i read your column in times sunday- you put the whole kasab episode so well and yes also remembered to congratulate the people who deserved(you are right we forgot).hope kasab death serve a lesson to those who are planning to be the next kasab....

I was saying the same thing as the slogan a few days ago, and am surprised to see it in written form here. Serendipity?

Read your Sethji. I was wondering at one loose end, where you said that the girl servant's life changed forever, and then I waited and waited till the end to find out how...

I like the way you get into the heads of your characters when you write about them. The varied love scenes of various people had a different language altogether. That is one improvement I see in your style.

The only disappointment was that we did not get to 'see' much of how sethji's mind operated.It was more about Amrita's mind. I wish there was more of Sethji's mind that I could see.

Gifts are the projectors of your emotions. No matter how far you are from your loved terms, just a simple gift can put the lights on the dejected faces of them, who have been missing your presence on their special day. A gift actually brings your inner self before them. Visit www.hampersnationwide.com/Poland/Gift_Hampers_to_Poland.asp for details.

Bal Thackerray, a cartoonist turned politician, established the Shive Sena party, had Bombay State divided into Gujarat and Maharasgtra, and had the name of Bombay changed to Mumbai. I cannot say that Iwas a fan of his.Farah Beal

A truly motivational and life changing bookThis book is really a good book which shows us right path. but i readone more book named "ONE BOOK FOR LIFE SUCCESS" which is trulymotivational and life changing . .The writer has described in PlainEnglish with lot of examples which is easy to understand...For MorePlease watch the videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biORjS8ngv0YouTube video